


Those Nights (Pain of a Nation)

by Paktigija



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-15
Updated: 2013-05-15
Packaged: 2017-12-11 22:00:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/803721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paktigija/pseuds/Paktigija
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is just a short one-shot I wrote when thinking about what effect immortality must have on the Nations' psyches... And how the only people they can find sympathy and comfort with are each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Those Nights (Pain of a Nation)

We live and die for those nights.

When we are not _Russia_ and _England_ and _America_ and _Germany_ and _Italy_ and _China_ and _France_ and _Japan_ … No. Those nights we are mortal. Almost human…

Oh, how wonderful to be _Ivan_ and _Arthur_ and _Alfred_ and _Ludwig_ and _Feliciano_ and _Yao_ and _Francis_ and _Kiku_ , if only for this short time. Drowning in our sorrows, wallowing in our regrets; alone, even as we are together. War and invasion and rise and fall and empire and colony and glorious, bloodstained victory and terrible, wounded defeat… All are lost in the fog of our impaired minds.

For we are immortal beings; but we still bear that curse which afflicts all who must live in this beautiful, terrible world. We must _think_ and _feel_ and _love_ and _hate_ … All of these feelings and regrets, we are drowning.

As the night wears on we forget more and more, but remember other things… Beautiful tragedies and terrible victories, violence that we have tried _so hard_ to forget. Screaming at the sky in remembered despair, reliving ancient anguish. It never ends, we cannot force it to end, but we face and hide our pasts, together.

And when we have drowned for so long that we forget everything, when even walking is impossible, then we support each other. Staggering home to collapse together and share the warmth of companionship with others who _understand_  this pain, just for tonight.

Because when morning comes, we must again become that which we cannot help but love and hate.

Return to being _Russia_ and _England_ and _America_ and _Germany_ and _Italy_ and _China_ and _France_ and _Japan_ , with all the tensions and history that those names encompass…

But for tonight, we can feel mortal. Our minds are clouded, hazy. Screaming at the sky and seeking comfort in the touch of another… One who has also felt the pain of a Nation.


End file.
